The Mysterious Portrait: Chapter 5 of Carmilla's Gothic Tale

Hello Creators,

Autumn leaves are falling, temperatures are dropping, and for many creators, an uneasy feeling creeps in as we evaluate what we've accomplished this year. 
If you're feeling that familiar pressure that comes with seasonal transitions, you're not alone.

In this deeply atmospheric episode, we explore how the changing seasons can trigger creative anxiety and the feeling that we haven't achieved enough as the year winds down. 
I share some gentle reminders about the importance of self-compassion during these transitional times. 
There's absolute wisdom in slowing down, celebrating small victories, and breaking unfinished goals into manageable pieces for the future. 
For my fellow ADHD creators, I offer practical tips on keeping those goals visible and achievable.

The perfect companion to these autumnal reflections comes as Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu's gothic novella "Carmilla." 
Chapter 5 takes us into a world where the past mysteriously intrudes upon the present through an uncannily familiar portrait. 
As moonlight bathes the castle grounds, Carmilla's passionate confessions and sudden withdrawals mirror our own creative ebbs and flows. 
The ancient portrait, dated 1698, connects both women to a forgotten lineage, raising questions about identity and inheritance that resonate with our own artistic journeys.

Whether you're wrestling with creative doubts or simply seeking an atmospheric escape as Halloween approaches, this episode offers both practical wisdom and gothic enchantment. 

Sleep Tight,

Florence x

Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome to Sleepless Creatives
• 0:44 Autumn reflections and seasonal anxiety
• 2:28 Chapter 5: A Wonderful Likeness
• 5:35 Moonlit confessions with Carmilla
• 10:28 Recovery and mysterious behavior

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:05

Hello creators and welcome to Sleepless Creatives, a sleep podcast for performers and creators just like you. I'm your host, florence. We've recently opened up applications for our next intake of guest readers for 2026. Thank you so much to those of you who have already applied. We've had some wonderful auditions so far. Applications close on the 28th of September at 4pm, so if you would like to be in for the chance of featuring in your own special episode, there is still a bit of time to get in there if you haven't already.

Speaker 1: 0:44

Autumn is finally here. There's a scattering of leaves on the ground and a very noticeable chill in the morning air. I've already pulled out my winter duvet from storage and I have also been wearing my very large pink hoodie pretty much 24 7, because I'm suddenly now always cold. Some people absolutely love this time of year, but for others, the turn of the season and the incoming new year can also cause a lot of anxiety and it can sometimes cause us to push ourselves to go faster as we feel that we haven't achieved enough in 2025. But I'm just here to remind you that it's okay to slow down at this point. There is nothing wrong with that. Please be kind to yourself and also remember to celebrate the small wins just as much as the big ones, because they are just as important.

Speaker 1: 1:40

And if you are, you know, if you have a bit of anxiety around what you've achieved for this year maybe there was one thing that you didn't get around to doing then that's okay, because now is the perfect time to think about your goals for next year. So take that goal that you didn't achieve as much as you would like, write it down with all your other goals, break them into bite-sized chunks and then put them into action with all your other goals. Break them into bite-sized chunks and then put them into action. And if, like me, you're very, very ADHD, then write them down on a piece of paper or on a whiteboard or, you know, stick them to a corkboard or something. Put them up somewhere so that they are in front of you and you see them, so then they won't be missed.

Speaker 1: 2:21

And now on to today's text be missed. And now on to today's text. In this episode I am going to be reading Chapter 5 of Carmilla by Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu, which leads us perfectly into our Halloween episode next month. So take a moment to get cosy and comfortable and drift off Chapter 5.

Speaker 1: 3:05

A Wonderful Likeness. This evening there arrived from Gratz, the Grave, dark-faced son of the picture cleaner, with a horse and cart laden with two large packing cases having many pictures in each. It was a journey of ten leagues, and whether a messenger arrived at the Schloss from our little capital of Graz, we used to crowd about him in the hall to hear the news. This arrival created in our secluded quarters quite a sensation. The cases remained in the hall and the messenger was taken charge of by the servants till he had eaten his supper. Then, with assistance, and armed with hammer, ripping chisel and turned screw, he met us in the hall where he had assembled to witness the unpacking of the cases.

Speaker 1: 3:52

Carmilla sat looking listlessly on while, one after the other, the old pictures, nearly all portraits which had undergone the process of renovation, were brought to light. My mother was of an old Hungarian family and most of these pictures, which were about to be restored to their places, had come to us through her. My father had a list in his hand from which he read, as the artist rummaged out, the corresponding numbers. I don't know that the pictures were very good, but they were undoubtedly very old and some of them very curious also. They had, for the most part, the merit of being now seen by me, I may say, for the first time for the smoke, and top of it is the name as well as I could read, marsha Karnstein and the date 1698, and I am curious to see how it has turned out. I remembered it. It was a small picture, about a foot and a half high and nearly square, without a frame, but it was so blackened by age that I could not make it out. But it was so blackened by age that I could not make it out. The artist now produced it with evident pride. It was quite beautiful, it was startling, it seemed to live. It was the effigy of Carmilla, carmilla dear. Here is an absolute miracle. Here you are living, smiling, ready to speak in this picture, isn't it beautiful, papa? And see even the little mole on her throat. My father laughed and said certainly, it is a wonderful likeness. But he looked away and, to my surprise, seemed but little struck by it and went on talking to the picture cleaner, who was also something of an artist, and discoursed with intelligence about the portraits or other works which his art had just brought into light and colour, while I was more and more lost in wonder the more I looked at the picture. Will you let me hang this picture in my room, papa, I asked, certainly dear, he said, smiling. I'm very glad you think it's so like it must be prettier even than I thought it is, if it is.

Speaker 1: 6:05

The young lady did not acknowledge this pretty speech, did not seem to hear it. She was leaning back in her seat, her fine eyes, under their long lashes, gazing on me in contemplation, and she smiled in a kind of rapture. And now you can read quite plainly the name that is written in the corner. It is not Marsha, it looks as if it was done in gold. The name is Mercalla Countess Karnstein, and this is a little coronet over and underneath AD 1698.

Speaker 1: 6:35

I am descended from the Karnsteins, that is, mama was Ah, said the lady languidly. So am I, I think, a very long descent, very ancient. Are there any Karnsteins living now? None, who bear the name. I believe the family were ruined, I believe, in some civil wars long ago. But the ruins of the castle are only about three miles away. How interesting, she said languidly, but see what beautiful moonlight.

Speaker 1: 7:03

She glanced through the hall door, which stood a little open. Suppose you take a little ramble round the court and look down at the road and river. It is so like the night you came to us, I said, she sighed, smiling. She rose and, each with her arm about the other's waist, we walked out upon the pavement In silence. Slowly, we walked down the drawbridge where the beautiful landscape opened before us, and so you were thinking of the night I came here. She almost whispered. Are you glad I came? Delighted, my dear Carmilla, I answered, and you asked for the picture you think like me to hang in your room. She murmured with a sigh as she drew her arm closer about my waist and let her pretty head sink upon my shoulder.

Speaker 1: 7:47

How romantic you are, carmilla, I said. Whenever you tell me your story, it will be made up chiefly of some one great romance. She kissed me silently. I am sure, carmilla, you have been in love, that there is at this moment an affair of the heart going on. I have been in love with no one and never shall she whispered, unless it should be with you.

Speaker 1: 8:10

How beautiful she looked in the moonlight. Shy and strange was the look with which she quickly hid her face in my neck and hair with tumultuous sighs that seemed almost a sob and pressed in mine a hand that trembled. Her soft cheek was glowing against mine. Darling, darling, she murmured. I live in you and you would die for me. I love you.

Speaker 1: 8:34

So I started from her. She was gazing on me with eyes from which all fire, all meaning, had flown, and a face colourless and apathetic. Is there a chill in the air, dear? She said drowsily. I almost shiver. Have I been dreaming? Let us come in, come, come, come in.

Speaker 1: 8:55

You look ill, carmilla, a little faint. You certainly must take some wine. I said yes. I said yes, I will. I'm better now. I shall be quite well in a few minutes. Yes, do give me a little wine, answered Carmilla as we approached the door. Let us look again for a moment. It is the last time. Perhaps I shall see the moonlight with you. How do you feel now, dear Carmilla? Are you really better, I asked.

Speaker 1: 9:21

I was beginning to take alarm lest she should have been stricken with a strange epidemic that they say had invaded the country about us. Papa would be grieved beyond measure, I added, if he thought you were ever so little ill without immediately letting us know. We have a very skillful doctor near us, the physician who was with Papa today? I'm sure he is. I know how kind you all are.

Speaker 1: 9:44

But, dear child, I am quite well again. There is nothing ever wrong with me, but a little weakness. People say I am languid, I am incapable of exertion, I can scarcely walk as far as a child of three years old and every now and then the little strength I have falters and I become as you have just seen me. But after all I am very easily set up again in a moment. I am perfectly myself. See how I have recovered. So indeed she had, and she and I talked a great deal and very animated she was, and the remainder of that evening passed without any recurrence of what I called her infatuations, I mean her crazy talk and looks which embarrassed and even frightened me. But there occurred that night an event which gave my thoughts quite a new no-transcript.